Orange Plaza restaurants embrace outdoor dining
Outside Byblos Cafe, located in the Orange Plaza, there’s a diverse array of furniture – including Coca-Cola umbrellas – where customers can sit and safely enjoy a meal outdoors. SAM ANDRUS Photo Editor
Outside Byblos Cafe in the Orange Plaza, the seating is a little different. The curbs of North Glassell St. and West Chapman Ave. have been sectioned off to accommodate for rows upon rows of hastily assembled generic plastic chairs, forming an outdoor dining setup. Restaurant customers now line the streets leading up to the plaza, the epicenter of downtown Orange. Yet at Byblos, on the sidewalk and spilling out into the street, customers can sit at ornate tables and chairs with an intricate black, flowery design and be protected by the afternoon sun from a row of bright-red Coca-Cola umbrellas.
Byblos owner Adel Mahshi had to get creative in his decorative choices. In fact, nearly all the outdoor furniture is his property; brought from his own house.
After the Orange City Council approved the outdoor dining plan July 2, Mahshi knew his operation had to adjust quickly. So he called up Coca-Cola, who were happy to donate a few umbrellas with stands. He set up the tables and chairs he’d relocated from his home. And he got a nice donation from his neighbor in the form of a row of wooden benches, placed next to the other furniture.
“My next-door neighbor says, ‘You know what? I have those benches at home and nobody uses them; do you want to use them?’ Mahshi told The Panther. “And I said, ‘Heck yes.’”
Customers have told Mahshi they love the creative outdoor setup. Despite the relatively unique design, that feeling hasn’t been confined to only Byblos’ customers. At all hours, the streets converging into the Orange Plaza have been packed by residents looking for ways to enjoy the sun and food after months of being isolated at home. With traffic closed off and pedestrians free to roam the street and sit anywhere they please, it’s created a very interesting feel, as Provisions Deli & Bottle Shop employee Alycia Kampa observed.
“One couple – they said it felt more European,” Kampa said. “There was another customer, they liked it because … it feels like a street fair. We do get a couple people saying that it’s just like Vegas.”
This plan has provided a sense of stability for many restaurants in the area. However, in the months beforehand, many had to fight tooth-and-nail to stay open.
Buttermilk Fried Chicken, located on West Chapman Ave. and slightly down the street from Byblos, struggled when initial shutdowns were imposed in March, said cashier Claudia Amezola. She’s been working at the restaurant six days a week since the emergence of the pandemic, manning the register during early days when they’d only receive a few orders. However, they managed to stay open, and once restrictions started to loosen in mid-May, the restaurant received an influx of support. In fact, their busiest day was actually Mother’s Day.
“Since then, things have been getting a lot better,” Amezola said. “We just got lucky and things started to pick up.”
A few factors helped Buttermilk and also uplifted quite a few other eateries in the area. Delivery companies such as Doordash and Postmates proved extremely helpful to struggling restaurants in March and April, keeping a steady stream of revenue. There were some interesting trends from that period. Provisions, for example, has sold more alcohol than food over the past few months, Kampa said.
“People had to stay home, so they came and stocked up,” she said. “(Now that) people are allowed to go out, their first reaction is, ‘Let’s go have a beer.’”
Loyal customers have also provided a huge amount of support to each operation – particularly with Byblos and Buttermilk, family-owned businesses. Mahshi was extremely thankful for Byblos’ longtime eaters, who he said “actually don’t want to see us go out of business.” Amezola, meanwhile, said she can count on seeing a couple customers on a regular basis.
“This one loyal customer, he drives from San Diego to get the food,” Amezola said. “He’s a sweetie.”
So yes, things are going well at this precise pocket in time. But, simply walking through the savory smells floating across North Glassell St. won’t give an indication of the instability endured by many restaurants around the Orange Plaza. A short stroll and peek at the vacant interior of Fork & Salad, which opened last year in June yet shut down in March due to the COVID-19 pandemic, offers a stark reminder that future shutdowns or restrictions could doom these very same businesses.
When I told Mahshi that many Chapman students and faculty wouldn’t be returning to campus, due to classes moving remotely again in the fall, his face instantly fell. Behind the table where we sat, a legion of staff bustled around his kitchen. Yet, at that moment, he could’ve been thinking back to a time only a couple of months earlier to that same kitchen being empty, after he had to furlough nearly all of his employees.
It’s been difficult, it’s been disappointing, but things, as Mahshi pointed out, likely won’t be normal for a long time. At the end of the day, the only thing for restaurants to do is go with the flow.
“You have to do what you have to do to survive,” Mahshi said.